This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-55987, filed Sep. 14, 2002 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wall-mounted type microwave oven, and more particularly, to a wall-mounted type microwave oven having a guide device which directs steam and fumes generated therebelow toward an exhaust duct of the microwave oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a wall-mounted type microwave oven is installed on a kitchen wall above an oven range, and is provided therein with a hood motor and an exhaust duct to exhaust steam and fumes generated therebelow to the outside of the microwave oven.
Such a wall-mounted type microwave oven includes a guide device which directs the steam and fumes toward the exhaust duct. The guide device broadens an area to trap and guide the steam and fumes. That is, the guide device slides back and forth to cover, for example, a location of food being cooked by the oven range provided therebelow.
Typically, a conventional guide device of the wall-mounted type microwave oven has a plate-shaped structure. The plate-shaped guide device is operated so as to be is pulled out of a microwave oven body and retracted into the microwave oven body. The plate-shaped guide device is positioned to be parallel to a top surface of the oven range. Furthermore, the plate-shaped guide device is provided with smooth upper and lower surfaces, in which the lower surface faces the oven range.
In the conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven, the steam and fumes, which are generated from the oven range and rise upward during a cooking operation, are intercepted by the plate-shaped guide device. Some of the steam and fumes intercepted by the plate-shaped guide device are introduced into the exhaust duct of the microwave oven. However, the remaining steam and fumes are not introduced into the exhaust duct. This is because the remaining steam and fumes located near a region of the guide device where a suction force generated by a motor mounted on a hood is insufficient, are dispersed outwardly toward a cooking space.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a wall-mounted type microwave oven, which is provided with a guide device having a curved surface so as to improve an exhaust efficiency of steam and fumes generated from food during a cooking operation.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention, there is provided a wall-mounted type microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention comprising an oven body, an exhaust duct provided in the oven body to exhaust fumes, and a guide device which is provided in the oven body and movably retracts and extends to and from the oven body, wherein the guide device bends forward and downward at a front end thereof so as to guide the fumes generated therebelow toward an inlet of the exhaust duct.